This disclosure relates generally to the field of computing. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, this disclosure relates to a technique for providing a Focus-Driven User Interface using a new design pattern.
In a computer software application environment, some level of automation in the user interface is sometimes necessary to help users get to what they want to do quickly. Prior art user interface design achieves some automation based either on the pattern of use or on objects in the view. One such example is Microsoft's PowerPoint®. (POWERPOINT is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation.) A PowerPoint application shows most recently opened documents in a list, assuming that those documents are the ones the user is most likely to re-visit. This is an example of automation based on a pattern of use. A PowerPoint application also adjusts to fit content to a screen by automatically adjusting the font size of text so that it can all fit on one screen. This is an example automation of the user interface that works on specific objects in the view (the text in the text box). However, these automations in user interface are constrained to a limited list, and the list does not change based on the data that is encountered.
There is a need, therefore, for a simple, elegant mechanism to implement a focus-driven user interface which updates the user interface based on the data that is encountered.